Brandi Carlile made her stage debut at the age of performing Rosanne Cash's "Tennessee Flat-Top Box" at the Northwest's version of the Grand Ole Opry.

Sondre Lerche recorded his debut album "Faces Down" in 2000, which received praise in both Europe and America.

For the past five years James Buckley has been at the forefront of the Twin Cities music community, from his early days playing bass with the experimental Poor Line Condition to his recent work with The Pines, some say Buckley is prolific.

Minneapolis' Dan Wilson is experimenting with touring "staycation" style. He's playing a string of dates in the Twin Cities under the philosophy of "low milage, small rooms, one guy."

After 50 years in music, Byrd's founder and guitarist Roger McGuinn continues to tour, perform and record a folk song every week to pay homage to his roots.

Red Pens are Howard W. Hamilton III and Laura F. Bennet. The duo met when a friend introduced them to work on an art project. Their unique sound and ambitious schedule of weekly shows has made them one of the most talked about bands in the Twin Cities.

Taking his moniker from his birth place, Langhorne, PA, folk singer-songwriter Langhorne Slim (nee Sean Scolnick) now calls many places home including Portland, OR, California, and Brooklyn, NY.

Megafaun, the Durham, North Carolina - by way of Eau Claire, Wisconsin - trio of brothers Brad and Phil Cook and friend Joe Westerlund have been making music since Jazz Camp in 1997.

With the release of his eighth album "Blood of Man," Mason Jennings is exploring a world that is remarkably foreign from the one he has called home for seven previous albums. While the electric guitar is in no way a new piece of futuristic equipment, Mason has used it to create a sound that is a bit darker and edgier than anything he has done before.

Playing the piano has always been a part of Russian-born Regina Spektor's life. She grew up in a family of musicians with her father, a violinist, and her mother, a music professor. She took piano lessons in Russia until 1989 when her family moved via Austria and Italy to the Bronx, where she continued studying classical piano.